Walk into any saddlery and you’ll see many different types of bits. There are hundreds of different types of snaffle bits – all shapes and sizes, smooth metal, rough metal, twisted wire etc etc. There are hundreds of different types of curb bits – short shanks, long shanks, spoons in the horse’s mouth, nose pieces … Read more
Whenever you ride, you must remember that your horse has a mind of his own. He may want to run home when you try to leave the barn. He may think it easier to run along in the trot rather than canter when you ask. He may want to stay down one end of the … Read more
People often think if you can’t stop a horse then he’s ‘hard in the mouth’. So they use a more severe bit and force their horse to run backwards or make him back up time after time. Many people think this will make a horse ‘soft’ and make him easier to stop. This approach … Read more
Teaching a young horse to back up should always be one of the last things you do. Backing up is actually an extension of moving forward correctly and is quite an advanced movement for a horse. Though every young horse needs to be taught to back up, it must never be the first thing you … Read more
Your timing is critical in every aspect of horse training. If you’re even a few seconds early or late with your timing, your horse won’t understand what you want and he won’t respond as you think he should. Horses learn only from the immediate result they get. You must correct your horse by making things … Read more
NEIL’S HORSE TRAINING HISTORY By Christine Davies I’ve known Neil since he was twenty and shared his love of horses for all those years. While I rode my nicely trained (by Neil) horse five or six days each week, Neil rode at least eight or nine ‘outside’ horses that came to our stables for training … Read more
When I was about 14, people often sent ponies to us to be ‘broken in’. I got the job done on weekends and after school, with my father’s help. Looking back, we took a pretty crude approach. For the first few days, we put the girth and mouthing gear on and left the pony in … Read more
People always ask me how to overcome horse problems or does my book cover this or that specific issue. Here are some examples: My horse: Doesn’t trust people, Is herd bound, Is barn sour, Bites when I do up the girth, Has head-tossing syndrome, Shies or Rears, Kicks and Bites, Pulls back, Bucks, Won’t back … Read more
Many people have an unjustified prejudice against the use of sticks and spurs in horse training. They think that sticks and spurs are cruel and are used to punish a horse and ‘show him who’s boss’, and therefore should never be used on any horse. Some people believe that horses are naturally afraid of sticks … Read more
Asking how long it takes to saddle and ride a young horse for the first time, is like asking how long is a piece of string. I started training horses for a living more than forty years ago. Horses of all shapes, sizes and varieties were sent to me to be started under saddle. Many … Read more